Ballet Training

Ballet training in Russia begins at the age of nine or ten. Whatever the limitations of ballet in the Soviet Union, it is no wonder that Russian ballet dancers perform with ease leaps and lifts seldom attempted elsewhere and that the standard of dancing in a Russian corps of ballet is far above that usually seen in other countries.

The period devoted to dance classes increases gradually from two or three hours a day to five or six. As in other institutions of higher learning, ballet students receive monthly government stipends in their last four years, varying from 160 to 200 rabies. Of the thirty pupils to begin ballet each year, fewer than twenty-five usually graduate; the others drop out because of poor health or lack of ability.

Upon graduation, the starting salary for members of a corps de ballet is 100 rubles a month, while best ballerinas receive 6 000. Russians most famous ballet company, the Bolshoi, has first pick of each graduating class, but few dancers have the good fortune to begin with this company. All graduates, however, are assured of jobs in ballet.